Superintendent Update: Feb 5, 2021

To view past superintendent updates, please click here. To view weekly updates online, please visit our District Updates archive on our website.

In 1995, retired Ann Arbor educator and former principal, Joe Dulin, created National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID). “NAAPID is not just for black people –– it’s for all people,” Dulin said. “It comes during Black History Month, and I thought it was a tremendous time to introduce it as a project for parents to get into our schools to exchange notes, phone numbers, emails, have conversations and get in touch with the teachers.” NAAPID is celebrated across the US and other countries around the world. It has been a traditional day of parent involvement in Urbana for many years. Special activities are planned to encourage families into the classroom. Pre-pandemic, each school celebrated NAAPID in different ways from talent shows, guest speakers, assemblies, luncheons, etc. Parents are always welcome! We are not allowing the pandemic to stop our tradition. On Monday, February 8, Urbana School District 116 schools will be hosting several virtual events to celebrate NAAPID with our community. For information on District-wide NAAPID activities, please click here for school info.

We are pleased to announce a special program for all USD116 families. The State of Illinois has been approved to provide new Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer Program (P-EBT) benefits to all eligible Illinois students. The purpose of P-EBT is to provide food assistance to families with students who would have received free or reduced lunch while attending school but are not receiving these meals in school due to COVID-19 restrictions. Our district’s families may qualify for P-EBT because we participate in the National School Lunch Program’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). You do not need to complete an application to receive these benefits. Please note that citizenship status does not affect eligibility. Right now, families only need to ensure that your mailing address in the Skyward Family Access file is current. A current mailing address will be required to receive the P-EBT benefits. For more information on receiving your benefits, please read the letter linked here: English PEBT-Parent Letter, Spanish PEBT-Parent Letter, or French PEBT-Parent Letter.

We ended this week with two inspiring days! On Wednesday and Thursday, we offered a temporary Vaccination Clinic for USD116 staff. We were able to vaccinate over 600 USD116 faculty and staff. Vaccination Week was a great success! I would like to thank the Champaign Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) for this opportunity and support. I would also like to send a special thank you to our district nurses, certified nurse assistants, emergency medical technicians, the facilities team, UHS admin and custodial staff, and our student relations supervisors for their hard work to make these two days possible. I look forward to seeing those of you who were vaccinated back in three weeks for your 2nd dose. I feel privileged that we could bring this 2-day event to our school community as another additional precautionary measure to help keep our students and staff safe.

Stay safe and be well,

Dr. Ivory-Tatum,

Superintendent

The Urbana School District community is invited to contribute ideas to a new Farm to School project that is being developed to bring agriculture education opportunities and fresh, locally-grown foods to Urbana schools. The project is a collaborative effort between Urbana School District 116, Sola Gratia Farm, and Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, with support from a USDA Farm to School Planning Grant, and is being informed by school district members and other local partners. The organizations are launching this project this month and intend to spend the next six months soliciting ideas and planning, with implementation to begin in late 2021. Students, parents, school staff, local producers, and community members are all encouraged to share their ideas for this project with the Farm to School Coordinating Team through surveys accessible on the project website, https://cufarmtoschool.weebly.com, or by reaching out to them by email at cufarmtoschool@gmail.com.

UHS drama has been hard at work putting together their next show: The Laramie Project. This production has included approximately 30 students and has taken 3 months to put together. We have decided that all donations and some of our proceeds will go to a charity that helps support LGBTQ youth. The show will run from Feb. 4th-6th @ 7pm and on the 7th at 2pm. The tickets can be found here!

Congratulations to UHS Alumni Meg Zucker and Ben Manns for being recognized in this year’s Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation annual awards! Meg Zucker was named a 2021 CUSF Distinguished Alumni Honoree and Ben Manns was awarded the 2021 Local Business Community Impact Award. Thank you for your dedication to our community! #ProudofU116 #UrbanaBetterTogether

The UHS Winter Guard team recently entered their first virtual competition and won! Congrats to the team and thank you for doing a great job representing Urbana! #ProudofU116

In support of children's at-home learning and in recognition that not all children are able to take advantage of virtual learning or be inside a school building in front of a teacher during the pandemic, WILL-TV will broadcast a new, instructional television series for children ages 3 - 8 entitled "Let's Learn.” The series will be broadcast on WILL-TV weekdays from 11am until noon. For those families with Internet access, episodes of “Let’s Learn” may be viewed on-demand on Illinois Edition of PBS Learning Media by clicking the link here.

Email: contactus@usd116.org
Website: usd116.org
Location: 205 North Race Street, Urbana, IL, USA
Phone: 2173843600
Facebook: facebook.com/usd116
Twitter: @urbana116